Customer Ratings & Reviews

Screen is bright. If you do not upgrade the maps then, in our case, some street names are different. This makes traveling to other states tough. It was good overall and Ilike the ECO challenge feature. It really makes you pay attention to how you are driving normally. I like the fact that it guess the names of cities and places for you and that saves a little time.

This GPS works great. The screen is easy to read and it's easy to use. The only improvements I would have liked would be a volume control and it says that it comes with Traffic updates but you need to register online. I followed the instructions provided but was unable to register for traffic updates. I would have bought a less expensive model had I known I would not be able to have the Traffic Updates.

I am madly in love with my Garmin 255WT. I use it anytime I go anywhere. I'm the type of person who gets lost. I'm horrible with directions. My Garmin gets me anywhere I need to go. I could not be more pleased with it. I've tried several of the voices, they are all easy to hear. I prefer Samantha. The satellites pop up really fast. I've only had it say "acquiring satellites" once and it was brief. Haven't gotten to use the traffic feature because I live in an area with not a lot of traffic but I'm glad to have it for life! My husband was skeptical about getting a GPS thinking it was unnecessary, but now he loves it as much as I do. The posted speed limits on the screen have helped me numerous times when I wasn't sure about the speed limits. Love the feature that calculates the time you will arrive at your destination. There's nothing I don't love so far. The case seems really durable. I've dropped it and it didn't fall apart so it's better than my cell phone. I bought the non-friction dash mount and it's fantastic. That thing doesn't budge an inch no matter what's happening in the car. This unit doesn't come with a USB cord but my digital camera cord fit and works fine. You even get a free 2010 update with the purchase. Can't recommend this unit enough. Love, love, love it!!!

I got this for my bf, and he absolutely like it. He said it is easy to use and the features are good. He can't wait to try it out for a long drive this summer. It is very affordable and have good features and the lifetime traffic update is very good.

This is a terrific GPS unit. Totally easy and intuitive to use. Information on the battery was too brief in the online manual. I was helped by a very competent tech person at Garmin. While the Nuvi255WT is plugged into the car charger and being used, the battery isn't being charged but it won't deplete To charge it, it must be off.. For this reason, I purchased the indoor charger to give it a full charge evrey so often. I also purchaded the Garmin bean bag dash holder to keep it off the windshield. Make sure you get the 255 with the WT as that model comes with free lifetime traffic information (with some advertising). The FM receiver is built into the car charger. I really like this a lot!

This is my first GPS ever. It's really simple and affordable. There arn't alot of things you can do on this GPS except to use it for directions. Which by my standards is perfect because I don't really need internet connection or anything like that. Maybe in the future I'll think about a more high tech GPS but for now this is perfect. If your thinking about buying your first GPS unit then I think this Garmin is perfect.

This is a decent navigator at a good price. It has yet to fail me like like other reviewers have said (if that changes, I'll let you know). The traffic feature is ok, but I haven't found it exceptionally helpful except being able to see how far the traffic stretches in front of you. Sometimes there is no traffic and other times it points out that there is traffic ahead as you pull to a stop on the interstate (thanks for the update). It does let you know about how long you will be delayed, which has proven to be accurate on most occasions. I was able to upload all speed and stop light cameras in Maryland from a POI website and now I'm alerted each time I approach one with a "bing" sound. I suppose that may have saved me from a few unwelcome tickets, so it's paid off. It's on sale, it's cheap and it works (for me). I recommend it.

I've only used this machine once for VA to MA trip. It was easy to set up & use. The bad traffic warnings were right on the mark. The one detour we took worked well. My only complaint is not with the unit but with the delivery of it.

I absolutely love my GPS! I used to live in San Diego but then moved overseas for 10 years. So much has changed, but so much is still familiar. I use my GPS almost daily to help me find those places that continue to remain on the tips of my memory. It is especially handy in finding the fastest way from point A to point B when currently located in an unfamiliar part of town. When looking up something in the GPS's database, I suggest always using the spell feature when you can. it makes the search MUCH faster. I also like to look places up on Google and then download the information to my GPS. This is much faster than letting the GPS look for it. An added bonus is being able to see the surounding area in Google's map when there might be a choice of multiple locations. An added bonus of this GPS is that it can BlueTooth connect to my cell phone and thus provide hands free answering. Making a call via the GPS is possible but is hardly hands free. It is much easier to place the call via the phone but then talk via speaker phone via the GPS. I've actually had this same GPS model for over a year and just bought this one for my son. I'm definately hooked!

Got this as a present for the retired in-laws. They LOVE it! It was very easy for them to set up and use. They love the big view screen and ease of use for destinations, alt routes, all of it. Its so much nicer than an older GPS I had.

We have avoided buying A GPS though I have one for my laptop. I have researched a number of models and knew that Garmin was the highest rated and that the 255wt had everything I was looking for. It is easy to use for the basic operations but we did run into a problem where the system did not respond. We solved it by unplugging the USB charger and restoring to the original setup. We did not find the solution in the manual or the website. The screen is easy to use, even my wife liked it, and she was the biggest critic of a GPS. I'm sure there are others available with similar options but it just didn't seem like the chase was worth the catch.

We used it for the first time on vacation. We did not realize there is no manual included in the box, just a quick start guide. We were on a 6 hour drive and it wanted us to take the smaller highway instead of the freeway. We would have figured out that settings need to be changed quicker if there was a manual. You can get the manual online but it's 60 pages so it was too much to print, but I would have read it online before leaving if I had realized it was not included in the box. Of course there was no access to internet in the car once we left on the trip. Using the GPS to find fast food quickly in unfamiliar territory saved a lot of time. The charger stopped working on the return trip. After removing the fuse and putting it back in, it worked again. Maybe it shook loose during the drive.

An overall great product. I was pleased with my purchase of the 255WT. I bought this at $130. It was the same price (at the time) as the 255W, so I just bought this one. However, I don't even need the "T" (traffic). Another reason this model is more expensive than the 205W is the text-to-speech ability (spoken street names). It may be helpful if you are navigating a town with many streets close by, but when your street is the only street in sight, it doesn't make much of a difference. So, it's up to you to decide if this feature is worth the investment. And, the pronunciation is actually very accurate. You can even choose different languages in case English is not your primary language. The system is very easy to mount to a car windshield. The only problem with mounting is that sometimes the mount will leave behind smudges. I've noticed the battery life is fairly short. I pretty much always have a low battery warning whenever I use it. Also, the GPS doesn't come with an AC charger for in-home charging. I can only charge it in my car. (However, most cell phone chargers will fit this GPS. Some HTC, BlackBerry, Motorola...)

This is an excellent GPS, better than the $2000 GPS I have in my Mercedes and Infinity. Easy to set up and use. Provides instructions in many languages, so it is helpful for individuals that have limited knowledge of English. Works out of the box. Go get one. Better yet, get one for a loved one so you don't need to worry.

I've used the item several times traveling to areas I am not familiar with, into the country and into a large city. Each time it took me directly to the door. I am more than pleased with the unit. My son who can get lost in a tunnel found it was easy to use and follow. He was so pleased with it he is going to buy one.

I purchased the Garmin NUVI 255 WT for my kids, this GPS is so awesome. Very easy to use. Nice size sreen easy to follow directions. Ability to change vehicle Icons. Show you how your driving either save fuel or wastes it. A ton of features for this inexpensive GPS. GARMIN is the way to go. Thanks for a great product.

I got some Best Buy gift cards for Christmas and had been shopping for an entry level GPS for a little while, so when I found this on sale, I decided to purchase it. Overall, I'm really satisfied with the unit as an entry-level. On occasion it has directed me via route that wouldn't be the most efficient, but it's only been slightly longer routes, nothing out of the way like I was going on a wild goose hunt. I have had a couple of firmware issues in which the device would continue to give route instructions even after it was powered down. I have also had the unit once stay lit up until the battery died, despite the fact that I had power cycled the unit a few times to try to get it to turn off. The voices aren't always clear enough. The maps have been great and accurate thus far. I haven't had any issues with any missing roads or anything like that, despite living a remote area of a very small town. For the price, I'm very satisfied. I would make the purchase again if granted a do-over.

I like this product so much ..It was so easy to set up ...Its so easy to find the place when you arrived.I drove to Canada with this GPS and working perfectly on the street ..The Gps can repeat many times so you wont get lost.I would like to share this gps to my friends ..Garmin Gps is the best choice ..

This gps is simple and works great. i love how it lets you know that there is traffic but its not always accurate. I also love the eco appilcation and it tells you how good and bad you are doing on gas. Only thing i hate about this gps is that it has no route planing. It always gives me a local route?? when the highway is right next to me?? Highway will take me to my location a lot faster and not using a lot of gas on local streets with all those stops. I dont understand even on simple cheap gps like my previous gps which was tomtom xl let me route plan. Another thing i hate is the map updates !! I drive to indianapolis airport all the time and they build a new airport about 1 year ago and its still not updated on my gps ? oh well

Bought on reco from a friend. This is my first ever GPS. So, no experience to compare with others. I used basic routing feature (not POI stuff yet) in a non-urban area (not much tall buildings) for a week now. Here are my observations: 1) The pink highlighted driving path is always correct. But the spoken voice directions will mislead you. Sometimes the street it says to turn is not what the posted street sign is. However, the pink highlighted turn is correct. So, best is to turn off the voice directions and follow the highlighted path or when in doubt, give a preference to highlighted path instead of spoken directions. May be a map update will fix this. Will try that. 2) You do need to have a general sense of direction where you are going. With a blank mindset of directions, you will make wrong turns with this unit. You can't completely depend on it if you want reach the destination fast. For example, let's say you are on a Freeway 1 and have to go on a connecting Freeway 2 North. And let's say the exit from Freeway 1 is same for both South and North of Freeway 2. This unit tells you first "take exit 10 to Freeway 2 South on right and keep right". You have to pay attention to that "keep right" part and ignore "South" part. And after you actually take exit and are very close to North/South separation, then it tells you "take exit 10 to Freeway 2 North on right". Once I followed the South part and ended up in wrong direction on Freeway 2. You'll get used to this quirk after first couple of uses though. Again, the highlighted path is correct. Ignore the spoken directions and follow the path. 3) It doesn't seem to pick the closest Freeway on-ramp when it's a bit out of your way. It insists on taking the closest on-ramp that's on the way you are heading even if it involves going through more city lights than going backwards and taking faster on-ramp. Again, your general sense of the area is useful here. 4) Traffic feature is actually working and is useful. It did route me around the traffic once. You can find out if your metro area is supported at totaltraffic dot com. That's where these units get traffic updates from. 5) Other feature useful is automatic re-routing. When you make a wrong turn and end up somewhere else, it'll get you on track. 6) I also noticed that the GPS converges well at 30-40 mile speeds vs. 60-70mph i.e. the location where it tells you you are is more accurate when you are moving less than 30-40mph than when you are moving at 60-70mph. That's understandable. The real military accurate GPSs cost thousands of dollars. Most of these consumer GPSs are slow converging and hence have some heuristic (aka guesstimate) based on your speed, the map database and the direction you are heading to figure where exactly you are.